Mathematics in Historical ContextWhat would Newton see if he looked out his bedroom window? This book describes the world around the important mathematicians of the past, and explores the complex interaction between mathematics, mathematicians, and society. It takes the reader on a grand tour of history from the ancient Egyptians to the twentieth century to show how mathematicians and mathematics were affected by the outside world, and at the same time how the outside world was affected by mathematics and mathematicians. Part biography, part mathematics, and part history, this book provides the interested layperson the background to understand mathematics and the history of mathematics, and is suitable for supplemental reading in any history of mathematics course. |
Contents
Introduction | 1 |
The Classical World 15 55 | 15 |
China and India | 55 |
The Islamic World | 83 |
The Middle Ages | 119 |
Renaissance and Reformation | 157 |
Early Modern Europe | 185 |
The Eighteenth Century | 231 |
The Nineteenth Century | 277 |
The United States | 311 |
The Modern World | 337 |
Epilog | 385 |
Figure Citations | 395 |
About the Author 409 | |
Common terms and phrases
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